‘Teachers in my own school blow me away’ says Claudy headmaster Michael O’Kane on swift adaptation to remote teaching

Michael O’Kane, Principal of St. Colmcille’s Primary School in Claudy, is a co-founder of BlendED NI, a teachers’ support network set up last year to allow educators to share ideas and resources.

This week Mr. O’Kane told the Stormont Education Committee how local teachers have excelled at adapting to the new remote teaching regime.

The Claudy nursery unit and primary school manager praised the work of his colleagues during lockdown when asked by committee member and UUP MLA for Lagan Valley Robbie Butler if there was a reluctance on the part of some teachers to adapt.

Mr. Butler asked: “Is there a resistance by some teachers to embrace this and teaching unions more importantly?”

The UUP MLA said he had noticed a ‘disconnect’ across the education sector when it came to remote learning and the utilisation of technology from nursery through to third level.

Mr. O’Kane replied: “I wouldn’t be talking too negatively about teachers to be honest, and disconnect between teachers or maybe a reluctance, Robbie. I think, I wouldn’t say you have got your information wrong there. I would just tell you what I’m seeing.

“Through BlendED NI I work with many schools and I have to say, and I’ll say it very passionately - the amount of Principals and ICU leaders who have commented to me how their less confident teachers at using technology previously have excelled.”

He added: “If you speak to the majority of Principals across the country they will agree with that.”

Last year BlendED NI was set up during the early days of lockdown to allow teachers to share ideas and resources. It has hosted a series of ‘conversations’ focused on the challenges and difficulties COVID-19 has presented for local schools. Last August an online ‘Amplify’ conference was attended by over 3,000 people. This week Mr. O’Kane, joined fellow BlendED NI founders and members Karen Irwin, Louise Kerr, Nicole O’Connor, John O’Boyle, Pamela Algie and Alistair Hamill to brief the Education Committee.

Mr. O’Kane said: “Teachers in my own school blow me away every day in what they are doing and how they’ve taken to technology. It really does show the way forward for me to be honest.”

He said the support of the Education Authority’s C2k project to provide infrastructure and services to support the enhanced use of ICT in schools is particularly important for his rural catchment that stretches from Claudy to Craigbane and Park.

“We’ve been able to access dongles from C2K as such. They have been very, very helpful,” he said. However, sometimes a lower tech approach is needed, he said.

“It really just boils down to picking up the phone and speaking to parents; dropping in to see how they are getting on...you can have all the technology you want but it’s just picking up the phone and speaking to parents.”